Seventy years of dedication, excellence and pride

St Sylvester’s anniversary celebrations today:

N L J Nanayakkara

The year 2010 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of St Sylvester’s College Kandy, the historic hill capital of the Kandyan Kingdom which has been declared as a World Heritage City. On November 1, 2010 this will be commemorated on a grand scale. The theme for commemorating the inception of this institution of excellence would be 70 years of dedication, excellence and pride.

St Sylvester’s College is presently housed in the Premises formerly occupied by St Anthony’s College founded in 1854. St. Anthony’s College was shifted to a portion of land of Dunuwila Walawwa in 1939 and of buildings which fell vacant were used to start St Sylvester’s College. In 1940, Rt Rev Fr Robert M Perera, O S B founded St Sylvester’s College with 12 staff members to teach 250 students. The four storeyed building which houses the present St Sylvester’s College has been identified as the oldest academic institution within the World Heritage Zone by the UNESCO and has been earmarked as a conserved structure.

Rev Father Robert M Perera, whose utmost dedication and perseverance along with his unstinted effort paid rich dividends in achieving his vision when St Sylvester’s College excelled in studies as well as sports within a short period.

Old Sylvestians who have excelled in numerous proportional fields such as administrative service, management, Medicine, Engineering, Education and Security forces were able to bring honour to Sri Lanka.

D J N Seneviratne who succeeded Rt Rev Father Robert M Perera after his demise, in 1949 was able to serve the college for 24 years as the principal. His utmost dedication and professional integrity was charismatic and the college reached unprecedented levels of achievements in university entrance results as well as in sports such as boxing and football.

Successive principals who provided much valuable service include K S Gunarathne, W D Gopallawa, Berty Nillegoda, A B Herath and W Abesinghe.

The present principal Ranil Meetiyagoda is providing the college an excellent service with dedication and the college is fortunate to have him as he possesses a vision to uplift the college to unprecedented levels.

The student population has increased over the years and it stands at 3,145 at present and number of staff members stands at 150. They comprise teachers qualified in different fields of study. Students pursue their studies in all three media, Sinhala, Tamil and English. Thus St Sylvester’s College has been able to maintain its tradition by promoting racial and religious harmony.

Our Alma Mater has been able to achieve its goals by being dynamic in its outlook and by motivating students to perceive their goals persuasively with dedication.

The teaching staff has been mindful of the challenges of the changing world when imparting knowledge and has been able to be authentic and reliable in their approach following the footsteps of pioneer teachers of the college. The College provides students with opportunities to develop leadership skills, interactive skills and promote interaction among students. They include sports such as athletics, football, rugger, hockey, cricket, boxing, gymnastics, cadetting and scouting. By joining school societies students are also able to enhance such skills.

Though St Sylvester’s College was a Catholic school its founders had the foresight to name its inter house college structure using patriotic names such as Gamunu, Vijaya, Tissa and Parakrama and this facilitated in promoting cultural perspectives and social harmony.

The College was fortunate to have the services of efficient teachers like W S S Janze, W J Dias, J A Denlow, Aloysius Jayasinghe, J Hettiarachchi, A Wickramathilake and N Aberathne who held post of Head teacher in the primary school. The post of Vice Principal was held by Roy Amarasinghe and Bernard Abesekara whose dedicated service needs to be appreciated with heartfelt gratitude.

The O B A came in to existence in 1949 with D J n Seneviratne holding the post of president. Late Sinhaarchchi was the Secretary and P Thangawelu was the Treasurer. At present the membership has risen to 1,700 and the association has taken the initiative to foster inter school activities and to promote partnership in uplifting education, sports and leadership training. The unstinted support and the financial support extended by the members are encouraging.

The Colombo Branch of the O B A established in 1985 has a membership of 200 and provides immense support to the college. They have sponsored the construction of the Gymnasium. We greatly appreciate the cooperation extended by the O B A Colombo in uplifting the college.

As we commemorate the 70th anniversary we wholeheartedly and gratefully wish our Alma mater, St Sylvester’s College a very prosperous and a bright future. Let us recall the college motto In Fertiter Re which means courage is the strength and march forward to bright future.

The writer is the Acting President,O B A - St Sylvester’s College, Kandy.